Page 114 of Lonely Alpha

Tonight I’d pretend to drink wine and rum, but the thought of meaningless sex with betas made me sick.

I was here for Kiara and Leighton, and they were the only ones I would have sex with.

Though, I was pretty sure Leighton didn’t have sex planned for my future—she intended to ream me out and punish me in every possible way. The glare she’d sent in my direction told me that.

Relief had lit in Kiara’s expressive eyes, and that was worth any punishment. Her relief, and the knowledge that they were both safe and sound despite the annoying presence of the Ashby pack.

“You’re really good at acting, Merc,” I teased. “You look just as annoyed as you usually do when you follow me around.”

“I am,” he said.

His tone was a little more growly than usual.

Mercury had taken on the task of babysitter years ago. I’d always been adamant I didn’t need one, but I probably had. With the amount of trouble I’d gotten into under his watchful eye, I was hesitant to think about how much shit I would have been in if he hadn’t been around.

That was why it wasn’t unusual for him to be here with me. He never drank, but he always hovered.

Ambrose, on the other hand, never left the confines of our apartment or The Pointe Lounge. He hadn’t come because it would rouse suspicions. The gentle giant had wanted to. I saw it in his eyes.

“Nah, you’re glad we came tonight,” I said. “You prefer to have them in your sights.”

“Being involved with them is a recipe for disaster. I would prefer if we distanced ourselves, but I’m the only one with any rational thought left.”

“Your rational thoughts seem to make you hard a lot in their presence.”

He growled and stood from the short couch we’d claimed. “I’m getting a drink.”

I grinned. If I had Mercury turning to wine to get through the night, I was doing my job. We needed him one or two wine glasses worth of drunk, in my opinion. Otherwise, his silly rational brain would get in the way of what we were here to do.

Protect Leighton and Kiara.

If they needed it. I didn’t doubt that Leighton was capable on her own, but she was going up against one hell of a situation tonight.

“Hey, Dash.”

A woman slid down onto the couch in Mercury’s vacated place. Her arm was around me before I could shove her off. The previously appealing scent of honeysuckle and apple now grated on my nerves.

“Olanda. I’m not available.”

I barely looked at her, but caught her plump lips push into a pout. The beta woman and I had a history. A short one that she kept trying to repeat.

Sometimes, it did repeat. I got up in my head so much, wanting someone towantme, and she was always there. At the beginning of the night, I told her to let me be, but by the time I’d downed a few drinks, when she was still by my side…

I shuddered.

Olanda represented my weakness, and I couldn’t ignore the fact that she never had more than one or two drinks. She stayed sober and knowingly disrespected what I’d said before the alcohol.

“Do you have someone else with you?” she asked.

I flicked my gaze toward Leighton and Kiara without meaning to. Her eyes followed and she laughed. “Come on, let me take your mind off her. I know she’s your scent match’s sister, but you can’t stay this obsessed forever.”

I shrugged my shoulders so aggressively it shook her off, barely holding down the rumble of my growl. Prior to the live feed of Leighton facing down a criminal, that’s what she was to me: my scent match’s sister. Now she was so much more than that.

Yet, I couldn’t fucking tell anyone.

Maybe coming had been a bad idea, but I wouldn’t take it back.

“I’m not obsessed, Olanda. What I am is not interested in you. You’d be better off finding someone else to hang off of tonight.”

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